West misses the point about Isaan
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In its recent article "An end to improvisation in Thailand", the World Post website offers a fairly even-handed evaluation. But, like most Western observers of Thailand, the writer misses the point regarding the Northeast.
For 15 years I have associated almost exclusively with northeasterners every day. My heart is in the Northeast.
The writer of the article seems to think that “the value of the vote” is the issue, but this is mistaken. People of the Northeast want more money, and voting is simply perceived as one way to get more money.
Ironically, the majority of northeasterners have been short-changed in the past, thrown mere “scraps from the table” in exchange for their votes.
The article’s assertion is that Thaksin Shinawatra provided them education, but that was not so. He advocated replacing books and homework with videos, cartoons and entertainment in classrooms. He had nothing but disdain for the idea of educating northeasterners, preferring instead to keep people as under-educated as possible.
He closed down schools in Bangkok for days at a time simply to accommodate tour buses for tourist conventions!
The West always misses the point about the Northeast and “Thaksin the educator”.
Guy Baker
